A family friend gave us some AWESOME smoked salmon, and I’m pretty sure when most people think of smoked salmon, their brain immediately goes to…bagels…cream cheese…and Heaven.

The only thing about smoked salmon is you can never have enough. Have you ever been to party where there is just extra smoked salmon laying around? No. It’s always the first thing to go because it’s so. damn. good. When I saw Shutterbean’s post on this smoked salmon spread, I pretty much wanted to cry because I too have been late to the smoked salmon plate before. And then it was just…obvious…Smoked Salmon spread is so easy to make, and it solves the problem of all the salmon disappearing before the bagels and crackers do! And it’s super adaptable and easy, you can easily adjust to your taste!

1-2 tsp of capers (a little bit of juice from the jar is fine, I opted to do this instead of adding milk or greek yogurt to thin it out slightly).

dash of hot pepper sauce (such as tabasco or sriracha)

1 tbsp. fresh or dried dill (you may want to scale it back to 1 tsp, we really like dill over here)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

PRO TIP: Instead of cream cheese, try Neufchâtel cheese! It’s always right by the cream cheese at the store and often contains less fat and calories than regular cream cheese. And whoa – tastes almost the same.

Optional add-ins:

fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish, or you can mix a little in!

1 tbsp milk or greek yogurt – if your cream cheese is too thick you may want to thin it out with another dairy product.

a few tbsp. red onion, mix it in or serve it on the side for the onion-o-phobes

want some kick? Add a dash of horseradish

Lemon slices always make a pretty garnish…

Directions

Combine the cream cheese, at least 2 oz of the salmon, lemon juice, capers, hot sauce, pepper, and dill to a small food processor and process until smooth. Want more salmon in there? Then add the rest. It’s a nice touch to keep a little bit of salmon set aside to garnish the dip, but you don’t need much.

Serve with crackers for a nice pre-dinner appetizer, or serve at brunch (who are we kidding, eat this whenever you want), with bagels, tomatoes, red onion and fresh slices of lemon.

Make Ahead: Dip can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in an air-tight container in the fridge.